Shah Bano – Part II? Supreme Court registers PIL on discrimination against Muslim women

The Supreme Court has taken cognizance of discrimination faced by Muslim women in the personal sphere relating to marriage and divorce and directed registration of a Public Interest Litigation petition to consider the issue..The Court has issued notice to the Central government, and the National Legal Services Authority while directing the matter to be placed before the Chef Justice to constitute an appropriate Bench to hear the matter..This unusual order came from the Bench of Justices Anil R Dave and AK Goel as part of a judgment delivered by them in a case relating to the retrospective application of Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005..After dealing with the main matter, the Court in “Part II” of its judgment stated that:.“An important issue of gender discrimination which though not directly involved in this appeal, has been raised by some of the learned counsel for the parties which concerns rights to Muslim women. Discussions on gender discrimination led to this issue also. It was pointed out that inspite of guarantee of the Constitution, Muslim women are subjected to discrimination. There is no safeguard against arbitrary divorce and second marriage by her husband during currency of the first marriage, resulting in denial of dignity and security to her..…It is pointed out that the matter needs consideration by this Court as the issue relates not merely to a policy matter but to fundamental rights of women under Articles 14, 15 and 21 and international conventions and covenants. One of the reasons for the court having not gone into the matter was pendency of an issue before the Constitution Bench which has since been decided by this Court in Danial Latifi vs. Union of India. The Constitution Bench did not address the said issue but the Court held that Article 21 included right to live with dignity which supports the plea that a muslim woman could invoke fundamental rights in such matters.”.The Court held that the suggestion needs consideration in view of the earlier decisions of the Court and directed that,.“… a PIL be separately registered and put up before the appropriate Bench as per orders of Hon’ble the Chief Justice of India. Notice be issued to learned Attorney General and National Legal Services Authority, New Delhi returnable on 23rd November, 2015. We give liberty to learned counsel already appearing in this matter to assist the Court on this aspect of the matter, if they wish to volunteer, for either view point.”.The case assumes significance in the light of the fact that there have been calls from various quarters to bring in a Uniform Civil Code. Recently, the Supreme Court itself had asked the Central government on why the UCC was not being introduced in the country..(Read the order below)